Double murder suspect arrested in bar shooting after crashing stolen car, cops say
The man accused of killing two people and injuring two more in a bar shooting has been arrested.
Ernest Condre Bethel, 26, is believed by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department to be behind the shooting Aug. 22 at McCary’s Bar and Grill on Bush River Road. Bethel was taken into custody Friday in Thomasville, N.C., Sheriff Leon Lott announced.
Bethel was captured after he sped through a traffic checkpoint, the sheriff’s department said. Thomasville police pursued Bethel until he crashed the vehicle, then captured him after a short foot chase. Police determined the car had been reported stolen from Rowan County earlier in the day.
Bethel faces two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Richland County will seek his extradition back to South Carolina.
According to the sheriff’s department, Bethel got into an argument with McCary’s bar staff around 2 a.m. last week when he was told to leave. He then pulled out a pistol and began firing indiscriminately, a sheriff’s spokesperson said. The shooting lead to the deaths of Tolliver E. Wise, 29 and Christopher Lott, Jr., 35, two customers in the bar at the time, according to previous articles from The State.
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